Charlie Christian - Genius Of The Electric Guitar (CD 2001)

As I'm committed to present a Jazz Appreciation Group to our local U3A, I neede to fill some gaps in my jazz CD collection. Charlie Christian is often described as a precursor to the bepop scene that began around the early forties in New York. Being one of the first to use an electric guitar, he moved from the rythym section into the front line, and on this disc, was a match for Benny Goodmans more traditional playing. He uses harmonic passages rarely heard in jazz at that time, indeed, one can detect Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie in his interpretations. The band members on this CD was a rather eclectic mixture including Basie, Lionel Hampton and others, as well as Goodman. First class exmple of thirties jazz.